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I am loving this weather! I wish it was like this year-round. Cool mornings and warm afternoons. I know it’s not likely to stay this way for long, so I plan to enjoy as much of it as I can. I almost wish I had the energy and inclination to get back to painting the house, but I don’t. We celebrated our wedding anniversary this past week by breaking the bank and purchasing a few things that we need to start the renovations at the house on First Street. We have been married for eight years now, and a couple for almost 12. We haven’t killed each ot...
The last week was nuts! We picked up Nicky on Sunday, and his friend Leland was here nearly every day. We had a sleepover planned for Thursday, and had hoped to roast hot dogs and make smores, but got rained out. So instead I cooked the hot dogs on the grill, made rootbeer floats, and George made smores in the microwave. The two boys followed that up with a movie. They had a good time, and George and I hope to not do that again for awhile. Those two boys can be a handful. On Friday, George went and picked up Jackson. He will be starting school...
I can’t believe it is August already. Where did summer go? I had so many plans. Oh wait, I know. I worked to make money that was then spent on chasing and feeding the chitlins. LOL! Maybe someday I can work to spend money on me! I really doubt that. I will always end up spending the majority on chasing my chitlins! On the plus side, my garden is looking all right. My beans haven’t produced much, but that might be because a morning glory somehow got into the mix and is strangling them. I have a ton of tomatoes, but only two have turned so far...
What a wild weekend. We took off early Friday morning, with Jacob's girlfriend stuffed in the back seat, and drove 13 hours to San Angelo, Texas. Jacob's schooling is there at Goodfellow Air Force Base, and we needed to be there in time to sign him out for the weekend. Thankfully, he had his barracks clean, and had not gotten in trouble, so he was able to leave. I would have been angry if he had not been able to. When I think of Texas, I think of lush green wheat fields, longhorns and big...
By Teraesa Bruce I’m writing poolside today, which sounds a lot better than it is. The flies and the teenagers are driving me absolutely bonkers. LOL! All summer long, I hear, “I wish I worked at a pool and could tan all day.” It sounds way more glamorous than it is, I promise. Just today I dug a big clump of hair out of one of the drains, and a couple weeks ago I fished a baby rabbit out of the pool. A friend of mine said to me, “I wish I had your confidence. I just don’t feel comfortable running around in a swim suit all day.” I laughed. It...
I don’t know where to begin. It’s been a long week, and it went by so fast it’s a blur. We shuffled the Omaha boys around safely. Robert and his crew are all home safe, and Nicholas gets to stay with us for another week or so, and every one of our vehicles got a turn at leaving the drive. Having extra was a good thing this past couple weeks. Robert brought his motorcycle down, and had his extra stuff in the pickup that Donald drove. Since Donald left before he did, he was forced to leave a lot of stuff here. He tried to strap his gasol...
This month is going to equal a lot of miles on the Mini Cooper. Friday George and I took our typical little road trip to get the kid but left early to run a few errands in Lincoln and Omaha before picking up Nicholas. The battery in the key fob is dead and we were hoping to replace it. Turns out the car is actually supposed to charge it, and the battery can not be replaced. Now the problem is, why isn’t the car charging it? Not really a big deal, and not something I am going to lose any sleep over, that’s for sure. We decided to take the Min...
Running a public swimming pool in a small community can be difficult. Number one it is a costly endeavor. Pool chemicals, and equipment are not cheap. Then add in the cost of running and maintaining that equipment, as well as licensing fees. I have seen the budget, versus what the pool actually brings in. It’s enough to give anyone sticker shock. Then you have wages to pay. If you don’t stay competitive with your wages, workers will find a better-paying job. Also, you are employing teens. Teens have camps, other jobs, school activities, 4-H...
I’m writing you from my porch tonight. Yes, I said night. I know, I’m weird. It’s not hot in the house or anything, I just prefer outside to in. I’m all wrapped up in my blankie, with the fan blowing on me because it’s a still night and without the fan, the bugs would bug me. I’m just clicking away at the keyboard, I love laptops, I love wi-fi, I love modern tech, when it works. LOL! Could I live without them? Yes! There are so many ways to communicate anymore that it’s overwhelming. I have one kid who will text and call. Another that will only...
Last week was what nightmares are made of. We had swimming lessons all week, and I am still waking up in the night attempting to catch a child as they jump in the pool. I am surprised I haven't awakened George, or gave him a black eye, as I jump in my sleep reaching out into the unknown. I had planned to get photos of the Pony Express coming through Oak. I rushed around and made it to town 25 hours early. I felt like a moron sitting in my car by the park looking like a drowned rat, wearing my...
The Nelson pool had a visit from the state inspector on Monday, June 12. We had a couple minor infractions, but all in all we passed with what I consider to be an A minus. We get a write up for water standing by one of the pool ladders, and this year was not any different. The water in the showers was a couple degrees too warm, and one of the gauges for the filter was acting up, so that was a negative mark as well. The inspector also mentioned the pool needed to be repainted. I heard from a...
I thought I was done with the doctor for a while, but unfortunately, I am not. I went to see my doctor. She sent me to see radiology and from there to a surgeon. Now I am scheduled for another procedure completely unrelated to the reason I went to see them in the first place. After inspecting the area I was there for, she gave me and my chart a quick look over, and decided we needed to have a look down my throat and into my stomach and beyond. Yay, me! No worries though, I get to see yet another doctor for the issue that took me in to see a...
This weekend was a busy one. Jackson graduated from high school, which means we got one left! Let me tell you, I’ll take a small-town graduation over a city graduation any day. Six hundred students, give or take, plus add in parents, siblings, grandparents, family and friends, and holy cow, that was a full stadium. Their caps and gowns were red, and the thought that kept running through my mind as I was looking for Jackson was, “Where’s Waldo?” It was a nice ceremony, and actually fairly short. That is if you don’t count the passing of the di...
This holiday weekend, we attended our son Jackson’s high school graduation in Omaha. As with many ceremonies, they recognized our veterans and enlisted service members. In a crowd of more than 1,000, less than 10 stood. This surprised me so much, and I remembered the speech given at Jacobs USMC graduation ceremony and how the speaker had said that we were now a part of the 1 percent. Growing up in Nuckolls County I never realized just how small that group of men and women is. When enlisted and veterans are asked to stand, at least ten out of on...
I had the strangest dream last night. I was sitting at my kitchen counter typing away like I always do. Then I got up from my chair and was standing on the pool deck, garden hose in hand, washing away. Mary, Kayrn, Marty, and Clinton, my coworkers from The Express, were all doing various pool duties, and Mary kept asking me what to do next. I then walked into the pool office, which became The Express office and started stuffing papers. I don’t even stuff papers in real life! I woke up exhausted! It’s been a rough week, actually it’s been a rou...
Ready or not, The Nelson Municipal Pool will open this Saturday. Employees have been painting benches and touching up the paint around the facility, as well as cleaning and organizing to get ready for the season. We have a few new faces this year, Kasey Vaughn will be joining the crew as the assistant manager, along with two first-year lifeguards, Caden Culbertson and Raylene Miller. I, Teraesa Bruce, will manage again this year, and Rocky Miller will be acting as pool operator when Kasey and I...
The hubby has been home for two weeks now, recovering from parathyroid surgery. I’m proud to say I haven’t killed him yet. We still have a week to go, so time will tell. On a serious note, he is doing well, and I really don’t mind having him home. I may even miss him when he goes back to work. I’ve been working on getting the pool up and going for the upcoming season, along with much help from my assistant manager and lifeguards. It’s been a chore. I have a love-hate relationship with the big beautiful tree on the west side of the pool. It...
I saw the cutest little VW Beetle for sale the other day. It was lime green, with black and lime green leather interior and a sunroof. Needless to say, I dreamed and drooled over it for a few minutes. LOL! I have wanted a VW Bug or Beetle. They are just so cute. That made me think about how I have been severely spoiled over the last 10 to 15 years by not having any major car trouble. The first 10 years of my adult life were littered with one shoddy car after another. I can’t even remember how many times I was stuck on the side of the road in th...
Here lately, I’ve been dealing with the frustration of new glasses. My old glasses were terrible, and I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face, so off to the eye doctor I went. The doctor decided it was time for a bi-focal, which I have to admit, I was a little excited about. I’ve been wearing reading glasses over the top of my glasses for quite some time now. So after having the bright lights flashed and getting air blown in my eyes, I sat in the chair for the endless, 1 or 2, 2 or 3, and so on. Upon completion of the exam, I had to go th...
One spring it seemed like every time I bought ice cream, we would end up in a tornado warning. One time the sirens were going off before we even made it home from the store. We had all four boys with us that weekend and were racing the storm home. We were on the road and were closer to home than anything else, so while I watched the clouds boil, Goerge drove as fast he felt was safe. We arrived at the Oak school house just as the rain started pouring down and the winds picked up. We got the boys inside and passed out the ice cream. They were...
Thankfully, watching the squirrels in the backyard is the most exciting thing to report this week. The little ones are so cute! We only got some of the walnuts cleaned up in the back last fall, and they have been busy finding and hiding them, as well as attempting a few acrobatic maneuvers on the power lines that make my stomach turn. Watching them is pretty fun, and I don’t mind feeding them. If prices continue to increase, it will be nice to have fat squirrels to hunt! LOL! The last few days, I’vebeen playing catch-up with the household cho...
We think since we live away from the cities in a rural area, that we, and in turn, our children are safe from the dangers of being kidnapped. Unfortunately, that is the furthest from the truth. A friend of mine was telling me about an encounter her daughter had at a local restaurant. Two men were in line ahead of her, and a third let her go ahead of him since he was talking on the phone. She thought nothing of it and got in line. They kept glancing at her and were making her feel uncomfortable, so she decided to call a friend to help ease her...
We barely had the time to catch our breath after returning from Texas before heading out again. I was scheduled for minor surgery in Hastings at eight o’clock Monday morning. For some reason, I was under the impression I would be back to the grind in just a few days. Man, was I wrong. I don’t want to go into detail about the procedure, but I’ll give you a hint, it was a big pain in the hind end. The pain I am referring to has been with me for a long time, and never did it cause me the troubles that having it removed have. I have done as littl...
Another crazy weekend in the books for our nutty little family. I didn’t end up going after Jacob after all, but Around 3:30 p.m. Friday, Robert called asking if we could help him take Jacob’s pickup to him in Texas. The plan was for George and me to drive Jacob’s pickup and Robert would follow in his car. I had a few reservations about this plan as did George. First of all, the pickup tends to run a little hot and has overheated on us a couple times. The heater doesn’t work, probably the heater core, which when replaced should remedy the ove...
A couple of weeks ago, we headed down to see Robert on a Saturday. He was set to deploy the next week, so we wanted to wish him well in person. We even got to meet his new girlfriend. He was so nervous for us to meet her that he made me nervous. He kept texting me about where we planned to have lunch, and he said he wanted everything to be perfect. I finally had to tell him to stop cause his anxiety gave me anxiety. She had already met his dad and still wanted to date him, so it should have been an easy meeting for George and me. LOL! We had a...
